Daniel 4:14

Dan 4:14 He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:

Ver. 14. Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches.] One angel seems to call to another to expedite the execution, so earnest they are in the Church’s revenge. {Rev 18:21}

Let the beasts get away.] Let this great conqueror be stripped at once of his train and dignity. The Duke of Florence gave for his ensign a great tree with many spreading boughs, one of them being cut off, with this posy, Uno avulso non deficit alter; but here it was otherwise.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:14-17 The messenger had full authority as the representative of the Most High to announce God’s decrees and demand that they be fulfilled.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

[Daniel 4:14] By the decree (בִּגְזֵרַ֤ת): Thus they [the Watchers] decreed, for they are the ministers of God (מְשָׁרְתֵי הַשֵּׁם - m'shar'tei Hashem), [acting] as He commanded them. And “this is the command of the holy ones” (וּמֵאמַ֥ר קַדִּישִׁ֖ין שְׁאֵֽלְתָ֑א). And the question is, why this [decree]? [The verse answers:] “So that the living may know” (עַד־דִּבְרַ֡ת דִּ֣י יִנְדְּע֣וּן חַ֠יַּיָּ֠א) that the Most High (הָעֶלְיוֹן - Ha-Elyon), who is God (הַשֵּׁם - Hashem), “is sovereign over the lowly kingdom of men” (שַׁלִּ֨יט... בְּמַלְכ֣וּת אֲנָשָׁ֗א הַשְּׁפֵלָה - shallit... b'malchut anasha ha-sh'felah), “and He gives it to whom He wishes, and sets up over it the lowest of men” (וּלְמַן־דִּ֤י יִצְבֵּא֙ יִתְּנִנַּ֔הּ וּשְׁפַ֥ל אֲנָשִׁ֖ים יְקִ֥ים עֲלַֽהּ).

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

God hath decreed this judgment and the whole army of heaven have as it were subscribed unto it, like as also they desire the execution of his decree against all them that lift up themselves against God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Hew down-- (Mat 3:10; Luk 13:7). The holy (Jde 1:14) one incites his fellow angels to God's appointed work (compare Rev 14:15, Rev 14:18).

beasts get away from under it--It shall no longer afford them shelter (Eze 31:12).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Hew down the tree] As the tree was to be cut down, the beasts are commanded to flee away from under his branches. His courtiers, officers, c., all abandoned him as soon as his insanity appeared but he soon fled from the society of men.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He afterwards adds—the angel cried with a loud voice, cut down the tree, strip off the leaves, cut off its boughs, scatter its fruits, (or throw them away,) and let the beasts flee from its shadow, and the birds of heaven dwell no longer under its branches By this figure God meant to express that King Nebuchadnezzar should be for a time like a beast. This ought not to seem absurd, although it is but rough to speak of a tree being deprived of a human heart, since men know trees to have no other life than that usually called vegetable. The dignity or excellence of the tree cannot be lessened by its being without a human heart, for it never had one originally. But though this is rather a rough mode of expression., yet it contains in it nothing absurd, although Daniel bends a little aside from the strictness of the allegory; nay, Nebuchadnezzar himself had an allegorical dream, and yet God mingled something with it by which he might comprehend the meaning veiled under the image of a tree. The angel, then, orders the tree to be deprived of its human heart, and its bough and fruit to be torn down and cast away, after it had been cut down; next he orders the heart of a beast to be given to it, and thus its portion might be with the wild animals of the woods. But as this must be repeated elsewhere, I now pass it by rather hastily. The general meaning is this; King Nebuchadnezzar was to be deprived for a time not only of his empire but even of his human sense, and to be in no way different from the beasts, since he was unworthy of holding even the lowest place among mankind. Although he seemed to surpass the human race in his elevation, yet he must be cast down and thrown below even the lowest mortals!

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(14) Aloud—i.e., like a king’s herald. (Comp. Dan_3:4.)

Hew down.—The plural is here used, implying that several persons are employed in carrying out the order.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. The strength and magnificence of the great tree are all to be stripped from it.

aloud] lit. with might, as Dan_3:4.

Hew down &c.] who are addressed, is not stated: as in other similar cases (Isa_13:2; Isa_40:3; Isa_57:14, Jer_4:5, &c.), those whose duty it would naturally be to fulfil such a command are intended.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He cried aloud,.... Or, with strengths; (l) being a mighty angel, and that he might be heard far and near:

and said thus, hew down the tree; remove this mighty monarch from his throne; take away his government from him: this is said to fellow angels employed in the affairs of Providence, and the execution of them, to bring about an event so momentous:

and cut off his branches; take away his provinces, each of the parts of his dominion, from him:

shake off his leaves: cause his deputy governors to shake off their allegiance to him:

and scatter his fruit; the revenues of his vast empire, and let others take them:

let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches; those that have either voluntarily betook themselves to him for protection; or have been carried captive by him, and have lived under his shadow, whether of the more barbarous nations, or more civilized, as the Jews; let them take the opportunity of withdrawing from him, and returning to their own lands; see Jer 51:9.

(l) "in virtute", Montanus; "cum robore", Gejerus; "fortier", Cocceius, Michaelis; "strenue", Junius & Tremellius, Broughtonus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He cried aloud - Margin, as in the Chaldee, “with might.” That is, he cried with a strong voice.

Hew down the tree - This command does not appear to have been addressed to any particular ones who were to execute the commission, but it is a strong and significant way of saying that it would certainly be done. Or possibly the command may be understood as addressed to his fellow-watchers Dan 4:17, or to orders of angels over whom this one presided.

And cut off his branches ... - The idea here, and in the subsequent part of the verse, is, that the tree was to be utterly cut up, and all its glory and beauty destroyed. It was first to be felled, and then its limbs chopped off, and then these were to be stripped of their foliage, and then the fruit which it bore was to be scattered. All this was strikingly significant, as applied to the monarch, of some awful calamity that was to occur to him after he should have been brought down from his throne. A process of humiliation and desolation was to continue, as if the tree, when cut down, were not suffered to lie quietly in its grandeur upon the earth. “Let the beasts get away,” etc. That is, it shall cease to afford a shade to the beasts and a home to the fowls. The purposes which it had answered in the days of its glory will come to an end.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Over it. Kings are not always of the most noble dispositions. (Haydock) --- "All honour comes from Jove." (Homer, Iliad 17.) --- Let the greatest monarchs be humble, (Haydock) and cast their crowns at the feet of God. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He cried aloud, and said; whereby is shown the consent of the angels, when one stirs up another to cut down, i.e. to cast out and take away.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, cut off his branches, shako off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. The Septuagint Version is, "And one called and said to him, Cut it down, and destroy it; for it is decreed by the Highest to root it out and destroy it." It is possible that abbey in the Greek was due to ke (kayn) being read as wOl (lo"). The phrase as it stands in the Greek is not unlike Rev_14:18, "And another cried with a loud voice to him that had the sharp sickle." It is, therefore, equally possible that wOl (lo) has been changed into ke (kayn). The latter part of the verse is more condensed, and therefore, by that, more probable; only the rooting out commanded seems to contradict the fact that it is also commanded to leave "one root of it." Theodotion is in much closer agreement with the Massoretic, save that the beasts, instead of being warned to depart from beneath the shadow of the tree, are to be shaken (saleuqhiwsan) from beneath it, as are all the birds from its branches. The Peshitta is an accurate translation of the text of the Massoretes. A peculiarity to be observed in the Aramaic is that the verbs are in the plural, which is retained in Theodotion and the Peshitta. It seems difficult to understand this. Stuart"s explanation which is practically that of Havernick and Hitzig that the command is addressed by the ryi ("eer) to his retinue, seems highly forced, as there has been no word of a retinue. Keil"s and Kliefoth"s view, that the plural is the impersonal, does not suit the circumstances. We have a suspicion that the plural is due to a mistake thinking the watcher and the holy one were separate persons. The Septuagint, however, has the plural, which is all the more extraordinary that aujtw is singular. The function assigned here to the angels must be observed. Here, as in the parables of our Lord, the angels are the instruments by whom the decrees of providence are executed. In our days angels are not believed in. It is possible that materialism has much of its advantage over us, in that we do not recognize the existence and activity of angelic forces among the agencies of nature and providence.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The messenger of God cried with might (cf. Dan 3:4), "as a sign of the strong, firm utterance of a purpose" (Kran.). The command, Hew it down, is not given to the angels (Hv., Hitz., Auberl.). The plur. here is to be regarded as impersonal: the tree shall be cut down. אתּרוּ stands for אתּרוּ according to the analogy of the verbs 3rd gutt., from נתד, to fall off, spoken of withering leaves. In consequence of the destruction of the tree, the beasts which found shelter under it and among its branches flee away. Yet the tree shall not be altogether destroyed, but its stock (v. 12 15) shall remain in the earth, that it may again afterwards spring up and grow into a tree. The stem is not the royalty, the dynasty which shall remain in the house of Nebuchadnezzar (Hv.), but the tree with its roots is Nebuchadnezzar, who shall as king be cut down, but shall as a man remain, and again shall grow into a king. But the stock must be bound "with a band of iron and brass." With these words, to complete which we must supply שׁבקוּ from the preceding context, the language passes from the type to the person represented by it. This transition is in the last part of the verse: with the beasts of the field let him have his portion in the grass of the earth; for this cannot be said of the stock with the roots, therefore these words are in the interpretation also (Dan 4:22 [25]) applied directly to Nebuchadnezzar. But even in the preceding passages this transition is not doubtful. Neither the words in the grass of the field, nor the being wet with the dew of heaven, are suitable as applied to the stock of the tree, because both expressions in that case would affirm nothing; still less is the band of iron and brass congruous, for the trunk of a tree is not wont to be surrounded with bands of iron in order to prevent its being rent in pieces and completely destroyed. Thus the words refer certainly to Nebuchadnezzar; but the fastening in brass and iron is not, with Jerome and others, to be understood of the binding of the madman with chains, but figuratively or spiritually of the withdrawal of free self-determination through the fetter of madness; cf. The fetters of affliction, Psa 107:10; Job 36:8. With this fettering also agrees the going forth under the open heaven among the grass of the field, and the being wet with the dew of heaven, without our needing thereby to think of the maniac as wandering about without any oversight over him.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

the edict a decree, but since they take counsel from the Holy One, blessed be He, before they issue the decree, he calls it a question.

in order that Aram. עַד דִּבְרַת, like לְמַעַן.

that the living should know in order that all the living should know.

and to whom He wishes [as translated,] and to whom He wishes.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.